Film Review : "Evil Dead Rise"

 Someone was obviously impressed enough by Lee Cronin's 2019 " the Hole in the Ground" to hand him the reins to the Evil Dead franchise. The trailers led you to believe this was a prequel, and the film itself starts in a manner that shows it is unsure what it is. Given the modern setting it makes more sense to hear this is a sequel to the original films and not the remake, which now the press round surrounding this film there of talk of it beings a sequel as well.,  All Rami and Campbell had to do with the movie  is have the title executive producer by their names. In actuality this just means they agreed to endorse the movie with their stamp of approval. Campbell does a tiny Easter Egg's worth of voice work as Ash, but aside from that they have moved on after the series. This was originally intended to stream on HBO Max, but some focus group got high enough to tell them it was worth releasing in theaters. 

The acting is the film's strong point with Alyssa Sutherland of "Vikings" and "the Mist" shows, getting most of the praise here. Some will be impressed by the use of practical effects over CGI here. They used some very talented stunt doubles, and pump a lot of blood about , so if that is all you want from a movie, then why you even bother reading movie reviews is beyond me, as you do not like to invest much though in movies. If you want stories with few plot holes and character's that are more than cardboard stereotypes, then you are looking in the wrong place. The first twenty minutes was awful, and looking back on the whole movie, it's disjointed. The opening scene really only serves as subterfuge to make you think they are back in the Cabin when the bulk of the movie takes place in a Los Angeles high rise, that is being condemned and an earth quake traps the residents there while demons have been summoned. 

The only benefit of it taking place in a four bed room apartment is there was no where to run, but the same could be said of the cabin in the originals, and zombie movies are supposed to work off the feeling of claustrophobia. These films combine exorcism tropes with the absurdist zombie tricks to create their own charm that is not really felt here. It works of ridiculous gore while throwing out all the expected slogans like 'dead by dawn at you along with a wink to Ash's chainsaw. If that is all you need to be made a happy audience then you are just desperate for anything from this universe. The sillier aspects from the first few movies is not in play, I am not a huge Rami fan, and I like horror to take itself more seriously than juvenile vomit fetishes. This could have been edited down into one really good death metal video, but falls short of the other films and the entire horror genre. Ask yourself how bored are you when deciding to watch this. It took three sittings for me to make it through, glad I did not pay to see this in the theater, it was not terrible, but it was not a wise investment of 13 bucks either. 

Film Review : "Dungeons & Dragons - Honor Among Thieves"

 

The most common praise of this movie is going to be ...this is the best Dungeons & Dragons movie yet. While this it true, it's also a pretty low bar. The movie is a great deal of fun and capture's the feel of the game, but far from perfect.  As someone who has played the game for over forty years and is well versed in its lore I am not invested in the mythos of the modules and books, as I always came up with my own world. I have never used any of their deities or landscapes though I know them. Even more pedestrian fans of the game know Baldur's Gate and Neverwunter. The film makers were savvy enough to give the appropriate winks and load the movie with enough Easter eggs to appease fandom. The appearance of the kids from the 80s cartoon being my favorite.  In terms of cinematography the movies to weight it against are the first three Lord of the Rings movies that Peter Jackson helmed. The picture painted here is less realistic and more colorful than those. I really like the visuals of the Underdark, but felt it was amiss for the Drow to be left out, along with mind flayers who would have been more of an interesting adversary than the adversaries they faced down there. 

The acting is one of the weak links. You can say, well it is just a silly fantasy movie, but were any of the actors in Lord of the Rings not perfectly dialed in for their roles? We can lower the bar and ask how does the acting stand up against "Conan the Barbarian"?  Arnold is a shitty actor, but his physicality sold the role., Chris Pine was the most convincing.  Michelle Rodriguez did not feel primal enough to portray a barbarian. She was just a fighter with a low charisma that got upstaged by Bradley Cooper's cameo. And certainly, no Arnold given her lacking screen presence. I wish the Tiefling played by Sophia Lillis has been developed more as she pulled off her parts well. Fleshing out her character more would have raised the stakes. It was like Guardians of the Galaxy in tone in many ways including how the team nature of the cast was juggled.

It could have also used more monsters. There were enough to remind you it was about Dungeons and Dragons, but that was it. However the movie was well paced and kept the ride moving so it never dragged which is more than you can say for the more recent Marvel movies. Speaking of the Hollywood, factor the filmmakers had gone on records as saying they purposefully emasculated the male character to give the female characters more weight, and to their credit they did this in a way that did not raise any red flags or become a deal breaker that made me unreceptive to the rest of the film it just served the characters in a organic manner. Overall not perfect but a great deal of fun that kept me awake.